Tim: founder, footballer, collector of memories
Behind Flashbooks is someone who learned early on how valuable real community is, and how fleeting it can sometimes be. Tim comes from Rosenheim in Bavaria and, young as he is, has already lived in many places and collected many stories, which is exactly why he decided to start a project that captures memories.
At just 15, he went to the USA for the first time for an exchange year at Greendale High School in Milwaukee, where he played in the academy of Chicago Fire. But beyond football, it was above all the encounters, the differences and settling into a new country that shaped him.
After finishing school, he crossed the Atlantic again, this time on a football scholarship to Missouri University of Science and Technology. There Tim completed both his bachelor's degree and his MBA in just four years, two years faster than usual.
And all that despite a huge double workload:
Daily training at 6 in the morning, sessions every day, sometimes away trips of more than 14 hours - alongside a full course load. It was a tight schedule, but Tim never wanted to be just an athlete. For him it was about more: college life, the friendships, the travel and the stories that came out of it all.
He spent his free time travelling across the USA with his teammates, discovering new places and collecting memories. Along the way he also saw the other America, in a conservative state throughout Donald Trump's entire first term. The social divide, the polarisation and living through that period left a lasting mark on him.
After university, Tim discovered something he had never thought possible: his greatest passion, diving.
The surprising part? Tim hates swimming. At school he regularly got a straight fail in it, which often spoiled his otherwise perfect top marks on his report card. And yet, underwater he suddenly found calm, fascination and freedom.
His travels took him to breathtaking dive sites, including Tanzania. There he encountered an incredible variety of marine life, from moray eels and rays to the most dangerous fish in the world, the stonefish. His biggest dream? To dive with hammerhead sharks one day.